Editorial: Tornado two-punch

It’s hard to anticipate, in the wake of a natural disaster like the tornado that hit central Illinois on Nov. 17, all the ways that a community can get creamed financially.

The immediate damage, of course, is right before your eyes, and while you may not have a handle right away on what the exact dollar figure is, you certainly have a sense of what you’re up against. But there are other costs that aren’t evident right away, that may not hit until well after the last tree and home have succumbed to the wind.

Case in point is Washington, where Mayor Gary Manier recently drew a gasp when he said at a public forum that the city was estimating a 47 percent loss in its property tax base. That gasp was the proper reaction.

That represents a potential loss of millions in tax revenues, less so for a municipal government that has multiple sources of revenue — including sales taxes — than for the schools where property taxes make up the bulk.

At Washington High, for example, 58 percent of the operating budget of some $15.6 million comes from local taxes. If Manier’s crystal ball is clear, the high school may have to brace for a budget hit of $4 million or more. Even worse is Central Grade School District 51, which was disproportionately smacked by the storm — meaning that 47 percent erosion may be lowball — and where local taxpayers pick up 64 percent of the district’s $9 million budget. Again, do the math and it’s not pretty.

It’s hard enough dealing with the immediate needs — 116 students (about 10 percent of enrollment) and 15 staff members initially left homeless at the high school, 230 students (approaching 20 percent) and 20 staff in the same situation at Central. The students are now scattered across 11 central Illinois communities, and so there are unexpected transportation costs as well. And, in Central’s case, some building damage.

Meanwhile, all these local governments still have services to provide — roads to plow, for instance, public safety — and employee contracts to honor.

Fortunately, administrators have some time to prepare, as the storm hit late in the calendar and budget year, meaning the full impact won’t be felt until the 2015 fiscal year and thereafter. Unfortunately, they’re not likely to get any relief from Uncle Sam. That’s because replacing lost tax revenue is “not something we do,” said FEMA Spokeswoman Deanna Frazier, who remains on location here in central Illinois. “It has to be physical damage.”

For a city that might mean help with small things, like replacing street signs, or big things, like repairing a water treatment plant. Washington already is out $6 million or more for debris removal, which we trust — city officials did not respond to multiple phone calls — it didn’t have just lying around. The problem is that the state has a federally established threshold to hit based on population — in Illinois’ case, $17 million — before disaster assistance kicks in.

Page 2 of 2 - Washington High Superintendent Jim Dunnan is right about the “double whammy” — call it the tornado two-punch — the locals potentially face. “It’s already a devastating situation for the people who lost their homes. But then to have taxes go up significantly for the remaining population, that would be very difficult, as well.”

That’s an understatement. God may help those who help themselves, but Washington in particular is going to need assistance, and from a somewhat less divine outside source.